Rising Stars: Socially Responsible Venture Capital

Realizing that her first job at the Fed wasn't right for her,
Maura now works for a socially responsible venture capital
fund, evaluating what companies her fund should invest in.

Name: Maura McCarthy

School: Georgetown

Major: Economics

Years Out of College: 2-5

Title: Associate

Company: Ironwood Equity Fund

First
Steps

When Maura was in college she planned to do a Ph.D. in
economics or maybe go to law school. As she puts it, "About
20 percent of Georgetown graduates get law degrees. There's
a lot of interest in law. But I got really interested in
economics and decided to go to the two-year Federal Reserve
research analyst program, instead." There, Maura began
working on interest-rate forecasting.

But she found that the researchers she worked with there
weren't necessarily the best managers. "The Fed doesn't
have the background for the training programs that a
business might."

From Then to
Now

At the end of the two year program, Maura realized she
"didn't just want to be a cog in the interest rate
forecasting process. The work that I did didn't have a
visible impact on anything. I wanted a little more social
impact."
So she began working with the Initiative for a Competitive
Inner City, a non-profit research company in Boston, the
brainchild of a Harvard Business School professor. The
company does research on industry success stories in the
inner city. While Maura was there, she realized she might
want to get involved in a socially responsible venture
capital fund and began networking.

"I sort of approached it opportunistically. I was
networking to get with a fund, but at the same time
applying to business school. I think it's good to be
opportunistic."

Challenges
Faced

At first, Maura was caught a little off guard by the lack
of college-style exams and feedback in the venture capital
world. "You're not being evaluated all the time, and a lot
of times people don't give you feedback until review. By
then it's too late, for you and for them. I think it's
really important to ask for feedback. Venture capital is
like an apprenticeship. There are so many soft
skills."
She also learned about the dangers of getting too wrapped
up in the first company you research: "It's also easy to
look at one company and say, 'Oh this company is
fantastic!' One of my co-workers has a saying, 'Don't fall
in love with companies.' A young person like I was has to
learn to be restrained. It's easy to fall for one company
and then discover that seven other companies are doing the
same thing. Do your homework, see what the other companies
are doing."

My
Experience

"Monday mornings are almost always partner calls. The
partnership gets together and discusses portfolio
companies. Some days you go travel to visit companies.
Other days you do financial analysis of those companies
you've been visiting."

In Maura's current position, as an associate, her goal is
to research new deals. "So I should be on the phone a lot,
visiting companies, and attending conferences."

The independence her job allows her is one of the perks:
"I find I really like that I am allowed leeway in choosing
what companies I'm researching. We probably research over a
hundred companies and fund a few new ones each year.
Recently I've been investigating a lot of clean energy
production companies. It gives me a chance to follow my
interests."

Next
Steps

Maura points out that there are limited opportunities to
move up vertically. "In some companies you can move
vertically, but it's rare." Instead, many people move
laterally or go to some kind of graduate school. "I think
business school makes you well-rounded and you approach
management challenges more creatively."

She also places a lot of importance on industry
experience. "The top funds have people who know how to
manage people because they ran some huge company, or they
worked their way up. Founding companies is definitely the
way to go!"

Did I Ever Think I'd End
Up Here?

Maura says: "I don't think I even knew what venture
capital was in college! But I knew I wanted to be doing
something I liked a lot. And I like it a lot. If you love
learning, venture capital is the place to be. You're always
learning about new industries. You do something different
every day. I don't see why anyone wouldn't want to do
it!"

Advice for
Others

"Well, first something that's not specific to venture
capital: almost all jobs come from relationships we have.
[Before moving from ICIC to Ironwood] I talked to people I
knew at The Kraft Group, at Goldman Sachs, and other
socially-involved VC funds. But one of the ICIC board
members got involved at Ironwood, and I was able to follow.
Ultimately, informed networking helps."
"As for getting into venture capital: I'd recommend
majoring in biological or computer sciences. Something
where you get a BS really helps. In venture capital, you do
need to have some quantitative background."